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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27084583">carrying sand across the desert</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura'>misura</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Foiled Confessions, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 02:22:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27084583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn takes another stab at confessing his feelings. It goes amazingly not right.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn/Rey (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Finnrey Fanfic Connection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>carrying sand across the desert</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You're Force-sensitive?" Rey asked, except less like she was asking and more like she couldn't quite believe it. "You're Force-sensitive."</p><p>Finn tried to look casual and cool about it, like Poe, only not like Poe, because Poe had pretty much turned showing off into a form of performative art. "Yeah," he said. Short, but sweet. Simple.</p><p>"You're. Force-sensitive," Rey said, and okay, much as Finn liked seeing her all starry-eyed and bowled-over, this was getting a bit ridiculous.</p><p>Finn nodded. "I'm Force-sensitive." He supposed he should have guessed when he'd faced off against Kylo Ren that first time, swooshing a light-sabre like he'd been born to do it.</p><p>"Why didn't you say anything?" Rey asked, and all right, that was something different, so that was good. They were going to move past this, and then hopefully go from being best friends slash buddies to being best friends slash buddies slash awesome Jedi.</p><p>"Well, I didn't want to, you know, steal your spotlight," Finn said. In hindsight, maybe if he'd gone to Jedi training island with Rey, he could've kept her from getting soul-bonded or whatever to Kylo bloody Ren, but honestly, Finn didn't think he could be blamed for not having seen that coming.</p><p>Could've told her it wouldn't end well, though. Still, Finn was okay with not speaking of the dead, whether it was good stuff or bad stuff.</p><p>"I did almost tell you that one time," he added, because Rey was still looking at him like she felt just a bit hurt by his lack of trust. Which hadn't been what it had been about at all. "You know, when it looked like we were all going to die."</p><p>Rey blinked. "Really. <i>That</i> was what you were going to tell me?"</p><p>Finn spent a few uncomfortable seconds wondering if maybe Rey had read the same kind of (highly illegal and therefore extremely popular) stories he had. Any Stormtrooper getting caught with them could count on re-education, at the least, and yet the files had kept circulating - stories where the hero told the heroine, <i>'I love you'</i> just when they were about to die - and then they got rescued instead and lived happily ever after.</p><p>(In one of Finn's favorite stories, the heroine replied, <i>'I know,'</i>. He'd thought it sounded a bit cocky the first time he'd read it, and not nearly as romantic as saying, <i>'I love you too'</i> but then he'd met Rey, and he'd thought to himself that actually, it sounded just like something Rey would say.)</p><p>"Well," he said. "Yeah." Were Jedi supposed to be able to tell when you were lying your ass off? "Obviously." He was sure Poe'd have mentioned it if they were. "Why? What'd you think I was going to say?" <i>Please don't say 'I'm in love with you'. Please don't say 'I'm in love with you'. Please say 'I'm in love with you'. Wait, no, I meant - </i></p><p>"Hadn't really thought about it," Rey said.</p><p>Finn could have hugged her. Of course, that was more or less how he felt all the time. Friends hugged. Finn and Poe had hugged lots of times. Poe was a hugger. Finn didn't think <i>he</i> was, necessarily, but that was okay. He didn't mind when Poe did it. He said, "Oh. Well, now you know." <i>Cool,</i> he reminded himself. <i>Casual.</i></p><p>"Finn!" Rey beamed at him. Like, almost literal beaming. Finn spent one moment wondering why he hadn't told her before, then remembered that oh yeah. "This is huge! Amazing!" She took his hands, which was nice. Hand-holding was nice. Rey had very nice hands to hold.</p><p>"Well, I wouldn't say 'amazing'," Finn said, trying to sound modest.</p><p>"You're Force-sensitive!" Annnd they were back to that.</p><p>"I'm Force-sensitive," Finn said. Because that had worked so well last time.</p><p>Rey let go of his hands and hugged him instead, proving that while Jedi definitely, positively weren't able to tell when people were lying, there might be just a bit of mind-reading going on. Or maybe Finn and Rey were connected the way Rey and Kylo Ren had been, except better, because Finn was actually a nice guy and more importantly, not dead.</p><p>Although on second thought, that meant Finn would be like a spare soulmate or something - a kind of consolation soulmate to replace the real one, and that would kind of suck, so. No soul-bonds or Force-bonds or what-have-you. Just best friends slash buddies slash nothing yet.</p><p><i>I can do this. I can do this.</i> "So uh," Finn said. <i>I can't do this.</i></p><p>"I'll teach you everything Master Skywalker taught me," Rey said. She was beaming, again or still. Finn felt like any moment now, he was going to forget how words worked, which would be bad.</p><p>Words were important. "Great," he said. One word. Doable.</p><p>"And then we can figure out the rest of it together," Rey said. She sounded very enthusiastic.</p><p>Finn told himself he'd done a good thing here. So maybe he hadn't exactly said what he'd planned on saying, so what? Rey was happy, and as long as Rey was happy, Finn was happy, too. Everyone was happy. Everything was great.</p><p>Poe might be a bit disappointed in him, but screw him. Well, not 'screw him', maybe, because Finn quite liked Poe. It was just that Poe didn't know everything. And Poe had it easy. Poe never had any trouble talking about his feelings.</p><p>Finn needed a bit more time, that was all.</p><p>"This is huge! I still almost can't believe it!" Rey said.</p><p>Finn tried to come up with something cool and smooth that would also subtly suggest that maybe they could stop talking about this now, except that Poe 'Just Tell Her Already, Here, Want Me To Write It Down For You?' Dameron chose this moment to walk in, for reasons unknown and unimportant.</p><p>Judging from the expression on Poe's face, he was interpreting the current situation in the absolute wrongest way possible.</p><p>"Poe! Hi! Guess what Finn just told me!" Rey said.</p><p>Finn told himself that (A) it was really stupid to feel jealous because Rey was beaming at someone not Finn, and Finn refused to be stupid, so there, and (B) there was no reason for Poe to assume Finn had told Rey something just because Finn had assured Poe that he was going to do so.</p><p>Poe looked at Finn with the sort of expression that indicated he was open for some communication here. Finn put on an expression he felt conveyed his present situation and feelings in a very clear and impossible to misunderstand sort of way.</p><p>"I already know, and I'd just like to say that I think it's great!" Poe said. "And let me be the first to say that I'm really happy for the both of you. Honestly, you two are - "</p><p>"Thank you," Finn said quickly and, all right, maybe a bit rudely, but he knew Poe would forgive him. By way of further signalling the present state of affairs between him and Rey, he broke the hug and stuck out a hand for Poe to shake.</p><p>Poe, bless him, shut up and shook it, looking pleased, solemn and slightly puzzled all at once.</p><p>Finn wasn't sure how Poe managed it.</p><p>Rey stepped forward, holding out a hand with a hesitant smile, which Finn could have told her pretty much counted as an invitation in Poe's book.</p><p>Sure enough, Poe said, "Aw, come here, you," and yup, that sure was a hug. Finn liked to believe he'd learned from the best and wasn't half-bad himself at it by now - and then Poe pulled him in too, of course, because why shouldn't he, it wasn't as if there was any reason Poe shouldn't hug them both at once, they were all friends together here.</p><p><i>Friends.</i> Friends was good. Friends was great. Finn loved being friends.</p><p>"So do I want to know how long it took him to spit it out?" Poe asked. "Or hey, did you read his mind? Because I read somewhere that Jedi can read other people's minds. So I figure, you read his mind, you talked first, he talked back? That sound about right?"</p><p>"Wait, you knew?" Rey asked, and nope, nope, abort, abort.</p><p>"Well, it was a little bit obvious," Poe said. "No offense."</p><p>"And you're very observant," Finn said. Running interference like a professional - though a professional what, exactly, he had no idea.</p><p>"There's that, too, yes, sure. I'm very observant." Poe frowned a little, like he was only now catching on to the fact that he had not, in fact, walked in on what he thought he was walking in on.</p><p>Which he could have easily avoided by not walking in at all, Finn thought a bit ungraciously.</p><p>"You <i>knew</i> Finn was - " Rey started, a statement Finn felt justified to interrupt by clearing his throat very loudly.</p><p>" - just a teensy little bit head over heels in love with you? Yeah," Poe said.</p><p>Rey stared at him.</p><p>Finn wondered how quickly he'd be able to make it to the nearest escape pod. Not that he was actually going to use it. He was just ... going to ... keep all his options open. Yeah. That sounded smart.</p><p>"And, I mean, you're also - right?" Poe asked. "Please tell me I didn't read you all wrong."</p><p>"No, I - " Rey said, and Poe looked like someone had hit him, except that it was someone he couldn't hit back, and then Rey said, "I mean, <i>yes</i>, obviously, I - " and Poe went back to looking like Poe.</p><p>"Right?" Poe said.</p><p>"Wait," Finn said. "What?"</p><p>Poe seemed to think that counted as another invitation for a group hug, and Finn supposed that at least that meant he didn't have to think of something to say right away. Not that he'd have had any trouble doing that. Finn was very good at thinking of things to say.</p><p>Any moment now, he knew he was going to say something cool and calm and casual.</p><p>Before he could come up with the exact words though, Rey kissed him, and Poe laughed and said, "All right, that's my cue, I'll leave you two to it," not like he was embarrassed or anything, just like he was Poe and leaving now, not that Finn had even needed him to come here in the first place (yes, he had).</p><p>As far as love confessions went, Finn felt safe to say that he'd aced this one.</p><p>More or less, and maybe with a teensy-tiny bit of help.</p>
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